Bought a Challenger MT285B

[rvaitor]

Great looking tractor and great buy. I think the Massey version would be the 1548. That is really great.

 

[Builder]

Back in 2003 when I bought my John Deere 4310 I looked at the Cat Challengers, but the one I looked at was, I believe, a 34 hp model. The Cat that I looked at was made by Iseki of Japan and was identical to a Massey Ferguson and an AGCO. The only difference was color. The AGCO quote I got was around $14K, the Massey $17K and the CAT was $22K. I asked the dealer why and he said because of the CAT quality. I asked him about it being a rebadged Iseki and being the same as the others. All he could say was CAT is superior. Don't get me wrong, Iseki is a great tractor and in turn the CAT is. What I am saying here is "Wow, you got a great deal". I hope you get many great hours out of it.

You were right. There's no mysterious "CAT quality". It's just a rebadged Iseki. I guess ther is a chance that CAT designed in a few extra features or some tighter/stronger tolerances, but this tractor is no better than Kubota and Deere.

I amost feel like the deal I got is some kind of curse and there's something expensive to fix on it........ I guess we will see.

 

[Tractors4u]

I amost feel like the deal I got is some kind of curse and there's something expensive to fix on it........ I guess we will see.

Throw me in that briar patch! That is a nice size tractor. I am sure you will enjoy it.

 

[RollingsFarms]

for mfwd, a loader, cab, clean looking tractor, good name standing behind it, parts availibility, for the price you paid i would say ya done good. so you sink a few $$$'s into it, i guarantee you should be able to get your money back out of it if/when you decide to sell.

 

[greggh]

Congratulations on your tractor and the deal you made. Have a wonderful ride... uuh, I mean enjoy your work. No...what I mean is You have a lot of work you can do with that tractor.

 

[challenger1]

...just curious, how did your refurbish go.
...selfish inquiry, my 2005 Challenger MT295B had a pto issue, the internal bearing went bad, pushed the pto shaft through the internal case wall, into ring and pinion, and destroyed most of the internal gears.
...needless to say, I need a new rear end/differential. If your tractor had any motor/transmission issues, and has a good rear end differential, I would be interested in it.
...if any one else knows where I can go to find a rear end/differential case and gears for this model, I would greatly appreciate knowing, I can't find one anywhere.
...oh, I called Agco, and they said all the rear ends are interchangeable in the following tractors: Challenger MT295B, MT285B, Agco ST52A or ST47A, or the Massey Ferguson 1552 or 1547. If anyone has any suggestions, I would be appreciative. Thanks.

 

[Builder]

The Challenger "2" series ist kaput.
You can exchange them for Massey or Agco parts. In fact, I have a MF dealer near me that ended up supplying all my parts. The only place you might have a problem is the yellow sheet metal on the Challenger line of 2 series tractors, but that's not a big deal.
I sold mine >1 year ago for $5,000 more than I paid for it so I was ecstatic to say the least.